Some pupils with a strange skin infection
Scores of pupils affected by a strange skin infection at the Tsledom MA Basic School in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal of the Eastern Region have been put on first aid to control and avert the spread of the infection.
School Health Education Programme, SHEP coordinator of the school, Frederick Nartey said though the treatment is proving efficacious with the wounds healing, he’s puzzled with their reappearance.
He disclosed that though the pupils are undergoing first aid treatment as they await test results of samples of the infections taken for lab analysis, the wounds keep recurring after healing.
For now the sores are healing but why it keeps coming [back], I can’t tell. I have information from parents of the sores healing and coming back, said Mr. Nartey.
The SHEP coordinator who recounted the genesis of the problem, said investigations by school authorities on frequent absenteeism by pupils revealed that most of them stayed at home to treat the infection which caused great inconvenience for the pupils, treatment that unfortunately worsened the condition.
Treatment applied by parents at home to heal the wounds instead worsened them as they grew bigger and bigger, Mr. Nartey narrated.
Subsequently however, attendance improved again after measures were put in place to treat the affected pupils in school as the coordinator invited health personnel to visit the facility to access the situation.
Meanwhile, the situation is not only affecting the school pupils as some adults are equally suffering from the condition.
“Not only the school children [have the sores and wounds] because there are some members of the community who are also having similar problem”, Mr. Nartey disclosed.
Mrs. Agnes Akweley Attipoe, Deputy Director Finance & Administration of the Ghana Education Service in an interview explained that officials from the Lower Manya Municipal Directorate of the Ghana Education Service and the municipal Health Directorate have already visited the school to investigate the outbreak of the terminal sores and rashes where samples of the infections were taken for further testing.
To facilitate the first aid treatment of the infection, she said various first aid items were donated to the School Health Education Programme, SHEP coordinator of the school by the visiting team with parents urged to corporate with the process by ensuring that the pupils attend school for the treatment.
She said initial observation made by the health team concluded that most of the pupils did not bath adequately.
We visited the school with the health team and they told us some of the children don’t bath regularly, said Mrs. Attipoe.
The Deputy Director of Finance & Administration who suspected unhygienic conditions in the community as the cause of the outbreak re-echoed suspicions of residents of the community who suspect the contaminated sources of drinking water including two wells and a borehole as the cause of the infections.
Meanwhile, results of lab investigations of the infections are expected to be concluded on Monday to ascertain the cause of the outbreak.
